


An Unseelie Market

by TheTravelerWrites



Category: Original Works
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Fairy, Gen, Magic, Unseelie, faery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 07:23:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15967511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTravelerWrites/pseuds/TheTravelerWrites
Summary: Another older work of mine.





	An Unseelie Market

_Avoid like the plague_ sprang to Keirnan’s mind when he walked through the market. If you didn’t know how to look, where to look, you’d be fooled into thinking that this was a normal market lined with normal peddlers and ware sellers. But everything was too pretty, too rich-looking to be ordinary. This was a unseelie market.

Now, generally speaking, unseelie markets weren’t dangerous for most people. A mid-aged man like himself, modestly clothed and plain of feature, could wander in and out of it without worry. If he were a pretty young woman, however, or a lithe young man, or any manner of child, he would need to exercise more caution. Because those kinds of people tended to disappear from these sorts of markets. Disappear without a trace, one or two at a time. People often put a kind face on it, saying discreetly but in a loud enough voice that perhaps they simply ran off with a lover, or decided to join the caravan. But everyone knew the truth. If you disappear from a unseelie market, you go to the otherworld. And no one returns from the otherworld.

The things they sold weren’t necessarily dangerous, either. The craftsmanship was a bit finer than you’d expect, and the demand was certainly there. In fact, there were people who would pay any price to have a fairy-made trinket in their collection. But buy the wrong one, however, and you could end up cursed forever or spirited away to the otherworld. For any kind of magic, one must always pays a price. Sometimes, it’s a higher price than you could ever dream.

Keirnan had had more than enough magic in his lifetime, and looking back, he’d have been better off without it. He walked briskly down the lane of people selling there merchandise. He had to admit, the disguises were thorough and convincing. An elderly man selling canes and wood-workings here, an old crone with flowers and ribbons there. A pretty, chubby young woman carrying a tray of buttons and trinkets smiled at him as he passed, and he scowled at her in return.

Yes, the disguises would fool most, but if you looked close you’d notice the old man, though he walked with a cane, had no noticeable limp. The crone, under the mop of white curls, had no wrinkles. The large girl moved as though her feet never touch the ground. These were no ordinary peddlers. Anyone with half a brain could see that. That’s the problem with trying to cross through towns; you run the risk of stumbling upon one of these travesties of commerce.

 _Avoid like the plague_ was right. The fairies were more than a plague. They were a downright epidemic. He knew better than to get stuck in one of these places. _So why am I here, if I know better?_

Just as he was stepping over the line of the outermost edge of the market, and while breathing a sigh of relief, he heard a soft thumping and a muffled scream that broke off suddenly, as though a person were yanked off their feet and slammed down hard. His natural curiosity was pricked, and he stopped moving mid-step. His brain was told him to keep moving, to not get involved, that only a dumb thief pokes his nose in matters that were none of his business. During the few seconds all these thoughts ran through his mind, he had already turned and was sprinting toward the sound.

 _What are you doing?!_ He though to himself. _You’re a thief. You’re wanted in most states. If anyone recognizes you, you’re in deep shit._

But another voice, far deeper down, said to him, _Fly. Fly as fast as you feet will carry you._ So he kept going, now speeding down the track at a dead run, heedless of the dazed and dizzy people in his wake.

A higher, fainter shriek of _someone help me!_ floated to his ears, and he shifted direction in pursuit of the sound. He flew into the treeline just beyond the the outer wall of the market tents. Here, in the dense canopy of trees, the sounds of a struggle seemed to echo in his ears, reverberating in his head and chest like the thumping of a drum. There was so much noise now that he nearly stumbled right into its source without being noticed.

A group of four men, large but not over-tall, their dress plain and ill-fitting but brand new, were dragging a very young and rather short girl, perhaps fourteen, by whatever they could get their hands on; arms, legs, hair, torso. She was putting up a valiant struggle, kicking and screaming and punching her fists at her captors, though it wasn’t doing her much good.

The girl was dressed richly in fine silk of pale blue and an intricate crimson trim, though the sleeves were torn from tugging and wrenching. A dazzling array of jewels adorned her neck and ears. She had a circlet of gold sitting in her hair, which was a color like the dark honey people often used to make mead. The purse dangling from her wrist was untouched. Clearly money was not the motive. That really only left one thing.

As deplorable as Keirnan found himself lately, walking past an assault on a young girl without doing anything about it was where most sane fellows drew the line. And he felt rather sane at the moment.

“Hey!” he called.

All five pairs of eyes were on him.

“Please, help me!” The girl cried out around the hand covering her mouth, her face tear-streaked and pale. “I’ll give you anything you ask if you help me!Anything at all, I promise!”

Keirnan drew his daggers and stepped forward. Two of the men dropped the girl and matched Keirnan’s stance, drawing considerable-sized swords.

 _This is going to hurt_ , Keirnan thought to himself grimly, but he rushed the two head-on without pause. Sure enough, one shoved his blade deep into Keirnan’s gut with no preamble. Keirnan bared his teeth and hissed with the pain, but didn’t falter. His daggers came up under the man’s chin and buried themselves in his neck, drenching him in blood.

The shocked look of the man’s face cemented as his eyes drain of life and he collapsed to the ground. The other man staggered briefly, but recovered enough to make a wild stab at Keirnan’s chest. He flinched as the blade bounced of off his ribcage and through his right lung, but again, Keirnan didn’t fall. As the man jumped back in horror, Keirnan plunged his knives parallel into the man’s belly and pulled up, disemboweling him. The man fell on top of his companion with a grunt, then was silent.

There was no attempt at showy swordplay or witty banter. No fancy dancing about. It was kill them or die. Or worse yet, let them make off with a young, terrified girl for gods only knew what. Quick and clean. Well, perhaps not that. It was a choice made and executed in less than than twenty seconds.

Keirnan growled as he swung around to face the two others, on his face a fierce grin of pain. They looked at each other with panicked expressions. As Keirnan began to charge them, and they dropped the girl unceremoniously and ran for their lives.

With the two blades sticking out of his chest and the battle fury draining out of him, Keirnan fell to his knees and huffed shallowly. He closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath, though that was hard to do with the sword in his lung. He dropped his daggers and attempted to reach up to pulled the sword out, but his arms were like lead and would not obey him.

“Oh, gods,” He heard someone say. He pried open his eyes and saw the girl inching closer to him on her knees, her once fine garment torn and mud-splattered. The terror on her face and in her wide, wide eyes made her somehow even paler. Her eyes were a flat blue-grey like that of a river frozen over in the wintertime. “Oh, gods...”

He could only imagine how he looked. “It’s alright,” Keirnan said, a strange whistling running through his speech. “It looks bad, but it’s not.”

She peered around him. “They’ve both gone all the way through,” She said in a horrified squeak.

“Yes,” he choked. “Please, can you pull the top one out? I can get the other out myself, but I can’t reach up. Can you pull it out?”

“Me?!” She said a little shrilly. “What if I do it wrong?”  

“Can’t hurt any worse, I don’t think,” He wheezed. “Just pull.”

Slowly, far too slowly, she reached out one delicate hand for the blade’s haft and pulled. The blade moved not an inch.

“You’ll have to stand up to get leverage,” Keirnan said patiently. “Pull hard. Both hands”

She nodded, took a deep breath and swallowed, then stood up, wrapping her hands around the haft more firmly. She held her breath and closed her eyes as through in prayer and pulled, digging into the dirt with her feet. She leaned backward, braced against the ground, so that when the sword finally came free with a horrible sucking-squelching noise, she toppled backward and landed with a breathless _oof!_

Now free of the first sword, Keirnan forced himself to breath a deep, steady rhythm. He could feel his lung closing back up, as well as the outer wound to the flesh. The blood was drying and reabsorbing into his body.

“What about the other one?” The girl asked, back on her knees and scrutinizing him.

“Give me a moment,” Keirnan said.

She sat silently and waited, anxiety written plainly on her face and in her body language. Several minutes passed, until he reached up and, with one hand, pulled the second blade from is body with a grunt of effort. The broad, cold metal left a void in his body, which he could feel cave back in as his organs healed and found their proper place again in his belly.

“The blood is disappearing,” the girl said in an awed hush, reaching for his shirt but stopping short of actually touching it.

She was right. He was reabsorbing his own blood so that all that was left was the blood of the men he’d slain.

Hey eyes met his and seemed to lose their initial flatness, deepening to the dark blue of a deep ocean. “What _are_ you? Are you of the otherworld?”

He chuckled weakly, still kneeling as the split skin knitted itself back together. “I’m rather certain I’m from this world. Were I from the otherworld, I think I’d have fewer hardships.”

“Have you a great many?” She asked cautiously.

“Perhaps not,” he allowed. _Only the one at present, though it weighs heavily enough._ “Can you help me to stand?”

She leaned forward, bracing her shoulder under his and, wrapping her arm around his back, hauled him up to his feet a little awkwardly, nearly losing her own footing in the process. Once he was up, he leaned against a tree to recover from the sudden bout of vertigo typical of blood loss and waited for it to pass. She stepped away slightly. It was clear to him that she was of a significant social standing, possibly even nobility, so it was plain that being alone in close proximity to a man, and a strange man at that, must have made her uncomfortable.

“When I’ve rested a moment,” Keirnan said, “I’ll escort you back to wherever you need to get back to.”

She nodded gratefully. “Thank you. My name is Auryn. What’s yours?”

“My pleasure at meeting you, Lady Auryn,” Keirnan replied. “But my name is of no consequence.”

“It is to me. You saved my life,” She said earnestly.

“If I might ask,” he replied. “And forgive my assumptions should they be incorrect, but someone of your standing should not have been out alone,” Keirnan said shrewdly.

“I wasn’t,” She huffed in annoyance. “I was with a party of ten men and women from the household, two of which were my own personal bodyguards.” The look on her face was indignant. “A lot of use they were.”

“A girl of your age would likely not visit a market, even with a hoard of keepers, until she was much older, surely.”

She made a face at him. “I’ll be nineteen in three months.”

His brows rose. “Oh. Forgive me. I thought you were--”

“Younger?” She said, finishing his sentence with another sour look. “I know. It’s this blasted height. It makes me look younger than I am.”

He smiled a little. “My apologies, Lady.” He hefted himself off of the tree and turned to her. “I feel rested enough. Shall we?”

“Yes, thank you. My people will be frantic.”

They began to walk back to the market. Keirnan was careful to leave a sizable gap between the two of them.

“You never answered my question,” She said. “I wish to learn your name.”

He bowed slightly as he walked. “Forgive me. You may call me Keirnan, my Lady.”

“No family name?” She asked.

“No family,” he replied.

“Oh.” A daunted silence fell. Soon, though, it became companionable.

“What brought you to the market today, my Lady?” He asked her as they found their way back to the main track and wended toward the town proper.

“I was looking for a gift for Papa,” She said. “His birthday is coming up in two months and I’ve run out of ideas. He’s rather hard to shop for,” She said with a fond little smile. “And besides, it was my first trip outside the wall.”

“Well, not to pick, my Lady, but this wasn’t the best market for you to have attended fr your first trip. It’s an unseelie market; dangerous to pretty young women like you.”

“Ha! I knew it was!” She said. “They all said it couldn’t be, but it popped up so suddenly overnight, that I thought it must be so.” She paused and looked at him curiously. “You think I’m pretty?”

He avoided her eye and cleared his throat. “If you knew it was a unseelie market, why on earth would you have gone? Haven’t you heard the stories?”

“Well, that’s all they are, right? Stories?”

“They’re true enough,” Keirnan said. “Dangerous for children and young, unmarried adults. Strangely, the wedding band seems a magic spell all it’s own.”

“I thought that was a fable people told lovers to keep them from sharing a bed before their wedding day.”

“All fables have subtle truths, lady, or in this case, not so subtle. Though, I assume you are unmarried, as I see no ring. Nor have you borne children.”

“No, not yet.”

“Then this place is more dangerous for one such as yourself. You should not seek out another unless you are wed.”

She hummed in an irritated manner. “The way Father hides me from the world, I’d be surprised if I ever married.”

Keirnan frowned. “I don’t understand.”

She shook her head. “Never mind. I hoped it was a unseelie market because I’ve always longed to meet a member of the fey. My mother used to tell me stories about them. The old stories, the ones where fairies were wise and handsome and powerful. I’d hoped to meet one like that.”

“I’m afraid to say that those kinds are hard to come by these days, my Lady,” Keirnan said sadly. “The noble race of fairies left a long time ago when the humans took over the land and divided them into city-states. The fairies that are left have inbred and interbred so much that little of the old blood is left. There’s enough there for unseelie spellcraft, to wind the elements to their will, to affect the lives of others and meddle in the affairs of humans from time to time, but there’s not much more to them than that anymore.”

She cast him a quizzical look. “How do you know such things?”

“Experience,” He said, his tone gentle but firm and final. _No more questions._

Taking the hint, she shrugged her delicate shoulders. “I knew it was a long shot. Silly, I guess. The dream of a child.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Keirnan said. “Children have an unfortunate habit of growing up too fast, I’ve found.”

“Is that also the voice of experience?” She asked softly.

He was saved from answering by a call from the far end of the track near the first of the tents. “Lady Auryn!”

A middle-aged woman with fraying hair, as though she’d been clutching it with despair, ran forward, followed by an entourage of young women and burly, armed men, some of whom drew their swords as he approached.

“Oh, put those away,” Lady Auryn snapped, and they resheathed their swords, looks of relief and exasperation warring on their faces. “This is Master Keirnan. He saved me from my captors.”

At this, the entire group eyed Keirnan with alarm, and he shifted under their gazes.

“Here,” Lady Auryn said, pulling the purse from her wrist. “Take this.”

Wondering if he should refuse, he put out a hand and took the bag. “Thank you, my Lady,” he said.

“Thank you, Master Keirnan,” she said, and smiled brightly at him. She was then shepherded away by her keepers into the walls of the city. He watched her go, and saw her glance back at him several times before the large stone doors slid closed behind her.

Kiernan returned to the spot where the men lay slain and dug a grave a few yards from the roadside. Perhaps they were merely lowly abductors, but they at least deserved a burial. He had only his daggers and his own two hands to work with, so digging a grave deep enough to keep the animals out took the better part of the day.

That night, he camped against the towering wall, closer than normal. He generally liked to be well away from city walls at night, considering his track record with most cities’ local law enforcement, though there was no warrant for his arrest out in this city. Yet.

He couldn’t get the incident from earlier that day out of his head. It didn’t make sense. The men wore simple clothing, was it was all similar, like a uniform of sorts. If it were as simple as a snatch and grab for a sexual assault, why take someone who was surrounded by guarded men, as inept as they turned out to be? Why not take one of the other women from the market, one who was alone? And it clearly wasn’t a robbery. Perhaps they meant to ransom her, seeing as she’s from a wealthy family, but if that were so, why take her in broad daylight with hundreds of potential witnesses?

He fell asleep with all of these questions and more revolving in his mind, though his last thought before sleeping was of Lady Auryn smiling at him over her shoulder.

A rough grab and pull upward woke him from a delightful dream, forgotten in an instant.

“Hey!” Keirnan protested. A hand clamped over his mouth. His first instinct was to bite, but before he could, the hand was taken away and a leather bit was put in it’s place. A blindfold went over his eyes, and six pairs of hands flipped him on his stomach and held him there. He felt rope being wrapped tightly around his wrists and ankles. He was hauled bodily up from the ground and laid on what seemed to be a cart. A cloth was thrown over him, on top of which was placed many heavy sacks. This restricted movement and muffled any sounds. All this happened in a matter of moments.

 _Damn._ So much for not having a warrant out, though he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what he had done to earn censure in this place. As far as he knew, this was only the second time he had visited this city, the first being when he was eight.

He rattled along for what seemed like eternity, noting the change in smells and temperature. Eventually, the sound of the evening crickets muted, and the dampness of the air dropped off. He realized he’d been brought inside somewhere. The cart stopped and he felt the pressure of the sack ease. He was caught up again and he suspected he’d been flung over someone’s shoulder in a rather undignified fashion. Before he could become too outraged, a door opened and the sound of footsteps hurrying out of the way.

He was seated on a chair and felt more ropes being lashed around his chest and waist. The chair was then dragged through three more opening doors and a long corridor, hitting every possible bump, groove, and imperfection in the floor. By the time he was set upright again, he had a monster of a headache and an aching back.

Finally, he could hear one of his captors talking in a low voice to another man.

“Are they all in there?”

“Yes, they’ve been waiting. What took so long?”

“We got him, what does it matter?”

Keirnan could feel someone picking at his shirt. “He can’t go in there like this. He’s covered in blood.”

“He was like that earlier.”

There was some shuffling around. He felt a hand on the back of his head and the blindfold lifted slightly so that he could see around him. In front of him stood four men, one with a shirt and trousers of rough weave, and the other three leveling various weaponry at him.

“We’re going to untie you so that you can be changed,” the man with the clothes said calmly and slowly, as though talking to a child. “Don’t try anything funny and you won’t get hurt.”

They untied him and threw the clothes at him. The didn’t remove the gag. When he raised his hand to take it out, the the weapons raised and inched toward him. Like all mortal weapons, they wouldn’t do any lasting damage, but they’d hurt like hell, so he decided to comply quickly.

After he was finished changing, they replaced both the blindfold and the arm restraints, though they let him walk on his own. With two at either elbow, they steered him forward toward...wherever.

Another door opened, and he was pushed through with such force that he fell on his face. As he attempted to recover his bearings, he heard a collective gasp and a familiar voice, raised in agitation.

“Why on earth is he trussed up like that? Release him!”

Lady Auryn. Keirnan breathed a sign of relief. He was moved into a kneeling position and felt his restraints being untied.

“Apologies, my Lady. We weren’t sure how he would behave. We merely wished to make certain he wouldn’t pose a danger to anyone here.”

“The man saved my life today, I highly doubt he would attack me a mere seven hours later. Hurry and release him. Then leave us.”

The blindfold was taken from his eyes and he blinked in the light. After they adjusted, they found Lady Auryn at once. She was seated on a ornately carved wooden chair on a raised dias at the end of the room. She smiled down at him kindly. Seated next to her in a larger chair with gold and silver inlay was a man, older than Keirnan, who must have been her father. He had the same slate-grey eyes and red-brown hair, though his had faded with age to a rust color with a few wisps of white. His beard, which fell past his collarbone, was a dark brick color. He was tall, tan, and a little paunchy, but his eyes were quick and appraising. He watched Keirnan with a vaguely interested expression.

“So, this is the man who saved my daughter, is it?” Auryn’s father said impassively.

Keirnan struggled to his feet. “Yes, my Lord. I-” As he stood, he was whacked on the back of the legs by the scabbard of a sword and fell on all fours.

“Do not stand until His Highness gives you leave to do so,” his guard said gruffly.

Keirnan’s eyes widened. “Wha... His _Highness_?”

“Yes,” Said the man on the throne before him. “I am Roth, the youngest son of the youngest son of the High King of Taull, Rolam. I am the Lord Prince of the city state of Tynwith, given to me by my Lord Grandfather. My daughter is the princess. You saved my only heir.”

Keirnan stared at Lady Auryn, whose kind smile morphed into a sly grin.

“You may stand. Did you not know who she was when you came to her aid?”

Keirnan found his feet and closed his gaping mouth. “I--no, my Lord. This is my first visit to this principality in 25 years.”

“Hmm.” The prince tapped his thumbnail against his front teeth. “What manner of man are you, Master Keirnan? From the description my daughter provided of your fight with her abductors, I would surmise you were a soldier or some manner of warrior, though by looking at the state of you now, I’d guess that you are neither.”

Keirnan cleared his throat uncomfortably and resisted the urge to tug at his collar or fidget. “No, I am not a soldier. “

“How do you earn your living?”

Keirnan’s hand twitched. “With respect, Your Highness, I would prefer not to say.”

“You will answer,” Said his grim-faced guards said, knocking his shoulder with his scabbard. Lady Auryn frowned and made an impatient waving gesture with her fingers. The guard took three steps away from Keirnan.

“Master Keirnan, I assure you, any answer you give will be in confidence and will not leave this room,” His Highness said. “This is not a judicial hearing. You are not on trial. My daughter’s life is more precious to me than any secret you may have.”

Keirnan believed that the prince would hold no ill will toward him should he tell the truth, but he didn’t necessarily speak for everyone in the castle. There were more than twenty attendants and fifteen guards in this one room alone, and it only took one of them to spread word of a thief in Tynwith to have the neighboring principalities’ law authority sniffing around. Not to mention how uneasy he was about being so close to an otherworldly market that popped up out of nowhere.

But the prince was waiting for his answer, so Keirnan swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and said simply, “Very well, my Lord.” He squared his shoulders and met Prince Roth’s eye. “My trade is that of a thief; I have made my living from the pockets of others. I am not weak in body or mind, so a proper job is not outside my reach. My mother and father, may the gods rest them, were honest people, but I’ve found that I was not cut from the same cloth. At first, it was merely out of necessity, but as time wore on it became second nature. Now it is all I know.”

Prince Roth nodded judiciously. Lady Auryn wore a small frown, but he could not decipher whether it was disappointment or sympathy.

“I appreciate your candor, Master Keirnan,” Prince Roth said. “How old are you?”

“I became thirty-three last fall.”

“Perhaps you believe yourself too old a man for change.”

“My Lord?”

“Have you ever considered taking up a respectable position?”

“What manner of position?”

“Personal bodyguard of the heir of the city state.”

Keirnan stood in shocked disbelief. After staring stupidly at the prince for about a minute and a half, he looked about him at the other faces in the room, that of his guards, which were heavy with disapproval, to the ladies-in-waiting who stood in the shadows, watching with wide eyes and hands over their mouths. To Lady Auryn, sitting prim and proper, her face expectant, and back to Prince Roth.

“Your Highness,” Keirnan began weakly. “Is this a jest?”

“I am not the jesting sort,” Prince Roth replied.

Indeed, his expression was serious enough. Keirnan cleared his throat again, rather more forcefully than before. “I do not believe I am qualified for such a task, my Lord.”

“And why would that be?”

Keirnan waved a hand vaguely at himself. “I’m of poor birth, low status, and have just confessed to being a criminal in the presence of nobility, which is in itself a crime. Surely, a person such as myself would bring shame upon your house.”

“Perhaps you should let me decide what shames my house, Master Keirnan,” the Prince said dryly.

Keirnan’s lips set in a line. “I have the utmost respect for you and your daughter, but I must decline.”

Princess Auryn leaned close to her father and whispered in his ear. He turned his head and listened intently, then nodded and stood.

“Leave us,” he said, waving to the staff. With barely a sound, they all shuffled out, leaving only Keirnan and and the Lord Prince. Auryn kissed her father’s cheek before floating out of the room enclosed in a circle of giggling ladies-in-waiting, casting them both a merry wink.

Prince Roth waved Keirnan to follow him and open the door to the left of the throne dias. It was a large study bathed in red and gold. Well-worn books lined the shelves and there was a desk full of various liquors.

“Brandy?” Prince Roth said, selecting a honey colored liquor from the table.

“Yes, thank you,” Keirnan said, accepting a large glass. The prince gestured to the two leather bound, claw-footed chairs next to the fireplace, which was empty and dark in the summer heat. Keirnan placed himself in front of the left chair, but waited until the prince was seated before sitting himself.

Prince Roth settled with a sigh. “I must apologize to you for today. It should not have happened and, by rights, you should not be involved. Yet you are. My daughter is to be confined to her rooms until tomorrow evening for her misdeed. That will give us plenty of time to negotiate your terms of service, should I manage to convince you to take up here.”

Keirnan did not attempt to reply to this. “Misdeed?”

“She left the wall without my permission. Actually, if I were honest, she openly defied my word. I’ve made it quite clear to her that she is never to exit the wall. Under any circumstance.”

Keirnan frowned. “Even with an escort?”

“With or without, makes no difference. As you saw today, the men I hired to protect her were as useless as those dithering maids of hers.” Prince Roth grimaced into his glass as if seeing visions in the liquid’s surface.

Keirnan eyed him curiously. “Forgive me, my Lord...but were you expecting this to happen?”

Roth didn’t answer right away. He swirled the contents of the glass slowly, still staring into it. “She’ll be nineteen in a few months. A woman. Old enough by law to marry.”

“Yes, she mentioned that. Though, she seemed more concerned about your birthday.”

Roth smiled fondly. “She’s a kind girl. Much like her mother.” Roth looked up at Keirnan. “Her mother died when Auryn was still in swaddling. Sudden heart failure. Went in her sleep.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, my lord.”

Roth nodded. “Since then, Auryn’s been my whole world. I’d do anything to protect her. Even hire a thief as her guard.”

Keirnan scrubbed his chin. “If you’ll pardon me for saying so, that sounds like the act of a desperate man to me. My lord.”

Roth breathed a laugh through his nose. “Aye,” He said softly. “And a desperate man I am.” The prince set his glass down on the table next to him untasted. “My daughter is cursed, Master Keirnan. Cursed since the day she was born.”

Keirnan’s heart skipped a beat. “Cursed how?”

Roth leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and looked very weary. “When my wife was carrying Auryn, she fell ill. No explanation. Some sort of pregnancy sickness. That happens sometimes, even in healthy women, I’m given to understand. I was desperate then, too. And in my desperation, I made a promise. Desperate men don’t think clearly, and there’s always someone willing to take advantage of that. A strange man came, told me he’d cure her, and that the babe would be born well, too. His only condition was that if the child was born a girl, that she’d be betrothed to him, and he would return for her when she came of age. As the babe had not yet been born and I had developed no attachment to it, it was an easy promise to make. Once that was done, he gave me a powder, some instructions, and left.

“We did what he said. The next morning, my wife rose from her bed as if she’d no more than slept a sound night through, her vigor and youthful vibrancy returned to her. So overjoyed was I that my promise was driven out of my mind.”

Roth sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. “I remembered it again the night my daughter was born. The birth was quick, and my wife suffered little. She took that for a positive sign, that our child’s life would be full of blessings. It was only then I realized that I had cursed her. I had never told my wife of the deal I made. It would have broken her heart.”

“I see,” Keirnan said slowly. “I guess you must also have realized that the man who took advantage of your hardship was of the otherworld.”

“Yes,” Roth said heavily. “No mortal man can heal the way he did in so short a time. All for it to have been snatched away a mere five months later. And then, all that was left was my grief, and my little girl. I would give up my princedom, my crown, and my fortune to undo the wrong I’ve done to her.”

Keirnan grimaced in sympathy. “With all due respect, my lord, I’m not sure how much help I’ll be to you.”

“Let me get straight to the point here,” Roth said, snapping back to original brisk manner. “Auryn told me exactly what she saw during your rescue. A sword in the gut and chest, both fatal injuries. Yet, here you sit, hale and hearty, with no evidence of a bandage or any medical treatment, however rudimentary. She may not know what a unseelie curse looks like, but I can certainly recognize it. You reek of it. It hangs off of you like a cloak of cold mist.”

Keirnan shifted uncomfortably but did not deny it.

“I don’t know what your affliction is, and frankly, I don’t care. All I know is that you fought off four otherworldly attackers at once, killing two and driving off the others. That’s a damn sight better than any of those other blunderers who were assigned to protect my daughter.” Prince Roth stood and looked out of a bay window next to the fireplace. “Such precautions weren’t needed when she was young as long as she stayed within the walls of this castle, which has it’s own protections. As long as she was a child, she was safe. But soon, she’ll be a child no more. And all the magical protection in the world won’t be enough,”

“There’s always a price to pay for magic,” Keirnan said.

“Indeed.”

“Does Lady Auryn know of this deal you made?”

“No,” Roth replied. “I’ve never had the heart to tell her. What would I say? That I sold her in half an instant to buy back her mother’s life? That before she was ever born, I handed her to a stranger without a second thought? She’d never forgive me.” He barked out a harsh laugh. “I’ll never forgive myself.”

“And the attack today?”

Roth turned back and snatched up his glass, draining it. “He sent them for her. I’m sure he’s watched us since that day, and waited for a moment to strike. I think the stranger always assumed I’d go back on my word. But I can’t let him have her. I can’t. Can you understand that?”

“I think I can, your Highness.” Keirnan scrubbed his stubbly chin. “What if you married her to someone else?”

Roth waved this away. “All her eligible male cousins are either too young, already married, or would thwart her right to rule. Even if there was a likely suitor, as heir, she would have to marry someone of acceptable status but who had no chance of taking control of this principality from her. Besides, I don’t think that would stop him. He’d merely see it as a minor obstacle and get rid of him, then there would be two lives on my conscience.”

Keirnan leaned forward and ran his fingers through his hair back and forth, as if scratching an itch. “My lord, in all honesty, I’ve never done anything like this. I really don’t know what I could do for you.”

“Fair enough. Then let’s talk about what I can do for you,” Roth said, sitting back down in his chair and leaning to match Keirnan. “I’m assuming, as a thief, you have a lot of trouble with police. That you might even have a warrant out for your arrest, do you not?”

“One or two.” _Or twenty_ , he thought to himself.

“While I can’t erase your mistakes, I can promise you that, as long as you stay within the state, I will not extradite you to any country in which you are wanted. I can expunge your criminal records in cooperating states and shield you from the ones that will not cooperate. However, I can not protect you if you wander beyond the perimeter.”

“I understand.”

“You’d also be paid a handsome wage, be given quarters inside the castle, as well as the clothes and weaponry of your new station.”

“My lord, you make it hard to refuse.”

“Then don’t.”

“An what if I fail?” Keirnan said. “What if I can’t keep her safe? Whatever manner of man this person is, whatever unnatural ability I may have, I’m sure my paltry tricks are no match for his. What if you’re placing all your hopes on the wrong man?”

Roth breathed in a slow breath, and released it just as slowly. “If that’s so, then that’s so. But I’ve tried everything so far that I can think of. I’ve contacted other magical practitioners and sought the advice of shamans. I built that bloody wall circling my city. I’ve made this place a fortress, all to no good use, it seems. The precautions I’ve set in place may fend him off for a while, perhaps a few weeks, but if he’s as canny as I believe him to be, he’ll find a way around them.” He reached up and absently stroked his beard. “I just thought, that being cursed as she is, having another cursed person there to look after her, I thought--I don’t know. Maybe it would cancel out.” He blinked his eyes and rubbed them hard. “And maybe I am a fool. Maybe this is the punishment I get for dealing with devils.”

“But it’s not you who will be punished, is it, Sire?”

Roth looked up sharply, as if irritated, but replied only, “No.”

Keirnan sighed. “My Lord, you drive a hard bargain, and many’s the sane man would turn it down. Such a position is one for the foolish, and if you are a fool, then perhaps I am a fool, also.”

Roth’s eyes narrowed. “Then you’ll take up the position?”

Keirnan paused for a long moment. “It seems I have no choice.”

“There’s always a choice, Master Keirnan. The trouble is, we have the inconvenience of only being able to see one or two at a time. The man who can see all options is the true king, eh?”

“Very well. I cannot guarantee the outcome or any success on my part, I will do my very best to keep Lady Auryn safe.”

“Do you swear it?”

“I do.”

“Say it.”

“I swear.”

Roth considered him closely. “I believe you. There will, of course, be a proper oath ceremony in which you will pledge loyalty to the country and crown. Since my daughter is the one you’ll be protecting, you oath will be made to her. The earliest time this can be achieved is the morning after tomorrow. As of right now--” Roth reached out and pulled a thin rope, and a bell rang somewhere. “--you will be taken to your new chambers and be free to rest and familiarize yourself with the castle’s layout. You’ll have a room in the mens’ side of my daughter’s wing. The servants will show you where everything is.”

As he said this, two male servants, wearing plain robes of brown and green with the family emblem painted on the front, entered bearing various personal sundries: one of them held a pile of clothing and the other a belt with a sword, a razor, shaving soap, and a face towel, among other things. Slung over his shoulder were Keirnan’s dagger belt and his traveling bag.

“Thank you, Your Highness. You are most gracious.” Roth waved his hand vaguely, and Keirnan rose, thinking himself dismissed. As he reached the door, however, Roth spoke again softly.

“One last thing,” Prince Roth said.

Keirnan turned back with a questioning eyebrow lift. “My Lord?”

“I understand that you were dragged into this, and I know that you’ve only agreed because you know I won’t stop hounding you about it. I suppose the promise of grand reward softened you a bit, as well. But,” He held up his hands, as if in defense. “The last time I was as desperate as I am now, I put my faith in the wrong man and made the biggest mistake of my life. I hope that I have not done so again.”

Keirnan nodded in slow acceptance of this. “I suppose we shall have to wait and see, Your Highness.”

“Yes,” Prince Roth replied. “We shall see.”

Keirnan followed the servants from the room, leaving Roth with his liquor and his memories.


End file.
